Anybody feel like friends and family will offer support or help or say that they will always be there only to seem frustrated if you actually pull that f@cking card on them and use their support for more than one day?
So then you feel like you have to constantly shuffle support people that you open up to only to realize that in itself is exhausting and it’s just easier to isolate.
Depression is awesome I love it
Season that bitch with some anxiety and mix it in
Throw it in my eye
It is quite difficult to find someone, anyone, upon whom you can truly rely. Particularly when it comes to mental health problems. Few understand.
Few understand but everybody and their brother just seems to have the perfect “way” they got through the tough times in their life and you should do the same.
Have you tried multivitamins?
Exercise?
Meditation?
(As screaming starts internally in me 😂)
Thank you and bless you
People give advice for their own comfort
HUmmm. You are still a young father with depression. And are you in a place in the US where the population is still being forced or ask to just stay home due to the THAT DEADLY VIRUS? Depression is not fun, even when one is able to hide at home because the authorities are asking us to.
You have been on that cymbalta how long? It's a standard, but it is available in a generic form which is less expensive. It can't KILL your anxiety, but do not stop without professional help, ok? It may be beneficial for you to couple it with regular talk appointments with a therapist. There are tools therapists are trained to offer that may help you help the Cymbalta.
There are days when I feel really useless. Other days better.
Over the years I have learned that depression and/or anxiety are hitchhikers and remind me they are still here. But I know what I can do to make those days more tolerable.
I call those days, Monty Python Days. Try to find the humor in those days......somedays I need just to hear a human voice for a short chat. Actually called online venders in the middle of the night. Yep,it can get that bad......but my goal is open a ray of humor to break it up a bit. So I say I think I dialed the incorrect number. So we check that. No it's the correct number. Then I apologise, tell the purchase order person I know she/he has a very difficult job. Tell them I am having a difficult time and I am not even working nights.......etc. a little small talk. Then I tell him/her I hope my call was most difficult one they receive that night. That sometimes causes a moment of silence and then comes either a laugh or an assurance I was not a difficult call. We end up rather smiling as we hangup. Both that person working a difficult job at night laughed a bit, and I feel a bit better too. (""IIIII"""" was able to bring a speck of sunlight to the person on the other end of the call. And I let off a bit of the weight of my depression.
And that's enough on that. Sometimes just be creative and do something that can have a bit of "wacko" in it.
Get a plastic baseball bat and go bash that large tree at 2:00 a.m. (Hit the tree that isn'teasily seen at night,)
Hope if there's a dog in the neighborhood that may start howling on your 5th bash at that tree. Then go inside quietly while the neighbors try to figure why in the heck their dog is barking.
Or turn on some music and dance with your kids if they are awake. Include your dog. Dance!!!! only you and the kids (and wife?) and the dog will see or know. Dance and leap as if you really knew the steps. Wack one of the boys with a pillow, but not too hard.......WACKO! I never had a pillow fight when I was a kid. Make up for it now. (The kids get to wack you too). Once your boys learn that you aren't really WACKO, they will really like this......
Have a good evening and maybe sleep better tonight if you let some energy out.
Keep us posted. Like you, some days I don't know why I am alive, either. But I also know I don't feel so low either. Learned ways that work for M E. Try it. May break up your depression too. Cannot hurt unless you use a metal or wooden bat on that tree. Don't do that. 
Thank you for your input🙏
I have been on it for over two years.
It’s the first anti depressant I’ve been on for long term.
I actually did stop cold turkey and get great and focused for a few weeks living with the loss of balance at times. Then everything got gradually worse so I returned to the cymbalta and have sought out more professional help to move forward.
Side effects were hard for months
-not sleeping
-sexual desensitization
Efficacy started to decline after around 14 months
Tried like hell to not need extra meds
Afraid I must
Whoa.........chemistry is such a complicated science. What extra meds you believe will help? I think over the last two decades I have seen most. My treating MD is board certified in neurology and psychiatry. Not all psychiatrists are board certified in neurology. I trust this man's chemistry knowledge. I am rx two types of meds. One is a bit of a side car helper for the main one. Sleep is always an issue. With PSTD type nightmares. Have some success with them with a very simple med the vets sometimes use. Tell us some more. Understand about family and friends offering support, but then reality the support may end up rationed. Have you found a support group for depresssion or anxiety.......do you have anxiety too? Sometimes that's the other side of the coin from depression.
My support group is a small circle of others with depression
Whether these are people you happen to know, or if they are in a group under the guidance of your therapist, hope they are providing the support you feel others aren't. I am a bit jealous. Well it's late here so will wish you a good night. (one night at a time.) Let the people on this venue know what you would like from them. Some have been active members for quite awhile and have the caring and experience that has help quite a few people over the years. Take care.
I hear you. I don't even think some people who work as social workers or therapists really give a damn. Sometimes you just have to be grateful for what you can get. Stop looking at everything you don't have and look at what you have. I only have one friend in the world right now, and I'm so grateful for her. Yes, I wish I had more friends, but thank God for her. And I appreciate this website a lot, if just because I can see that I'm not alone in feeling depressed and anxious. I bet you will not always feel the way you do. Feelings are fleeting. They are like songs. You might have a favorite song that you play on repeat for awhile, then one day you're like, I'm tired of this- time for a different song. I have a lot of shit going on too, I need to find a job, and I'm about to turn 50, and it all just sucks. But I can only wallow in anger and bitterness for so long. I like trying to help people on here, I truly hope you feel better eventually. Music is what saves me, listen to something uplifting that gives you a sense of hope. Take care.
People regardless of who they are to you only see someone else issues through their own eyes.....textbook education does not create true understanding
i wish my feelings were fleeting~how can i make them move?
I think the best support group is other people with depression. They understand how it feels, although everyone's symptoms are somewhat different. I agree often therapists don't really understand. If they haven't experienced mental health problems themselves, they can't really understand.
100%
Truth.
It has a way of revealing the truth about the people around us....
going mad~heart will play up and it was perfectly ok~drains you constant and mind going now~they only give so much~a little to suit them and their wage packet
In need of some support
It’s easy to be wise after the event. 
I need support please. 
Please read and give suggestions
New to the group and seeking support while I go through a severe depressive episode
